I scour the internet for the latest worship songs from independent & label projects for the best of what’s “NEXT”, particularly for those who don’t subscribe to the “one-size-fits-all” mindset of simply pulling from the CCLI Top 25 (though I don’t deny that can be a great place to start). I listen, play along, & analyze to see which ones float to the top. I hope this curated list of new worship songs helps you better serve your congregation in the coming year! I can confidently assure you that this is one of our best collections yet!

I’m sorry I’ve missed a couple of months. Oddly, Hurricane Matthew’s evacuation created the downtime I needed to finish this list.

If you’re new to “NEXT”, I know it’s hard to find new corporate worship songs – there is so much to sort through, especially if you want to dig deeper than the CCLI Top 50. Well, I’ve done the work for you – culling through current releases, both indie & label, curating a list of new material worth exploring. Be encouraged to let me know which of these songs you use, & how your church responds!

It can be hard to find solid, new corporate worship songs for your congregation, especially if you don’t subscribe to the “one-size-fits-all” mentality of only pulling from the CCLI Top 100. Well, I collect new songs year round, listen, play along, & analyze to see which ones float to the top – that’s to say, I’ve done some of the work for you. Here are my most recent picks. [Read more…]

By my standards, Dwell– by Atlanta area worship pastor/artist Aaron Keyes – is one of the all-around best corporate worship CDs of all-time. Serious! StuG’s production is fresh, even by todays standards, the songwriting is Grade A, & the songs are almost all corporate, & adaptable for almost any style of congregation. To top it all off, this is where Michael W. Smith‘s latest hit single, “Sovereign over Us”, originated from! If you’re looking for a great listen, but also would like to find a number of singable, new-to-you corporate songs to use for your congregation, look no further. Here’s the “revisited” review…
(stick around after the review for links to my live interviews of Aaron, as well)
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I vividly remember when I first heard Chris Tomlin’s newly released CD “Not to Us”. Up to that point, apart from a couple “worship hits”, Tomlin’s catalogue had been pretty pedestrian, yet out of the blue he released a CD from which I used no less than 7 songs corporately, & which was a trend-setter production-wise for the next several years. Enter “Dwell” by Aaron Keyes.[Read more…]

There has been much talk across the blogosphere this week on a topic I’m thankful is being discussed: the struggle to get a church to actually participate in corporate singing. The conversations was begun – a few months ago – by Jamie Brown in “Are we headed for a Crash?” Good observations. Leading to helpful responses by David Santisteven and Dan Wilt, both of whom made some very good points. More recently, the Kenny Lamm of the North Carolina Baptist association has chimed in on the subject as well. Having led worship in a wide variety of churches – from traditional a cappella hymn singing to free-form, “Spirit-led”, 3 1/2 hour charismatic praise, and everything in between – I’m familiar with the problem. All it takes is one Sunday morning service with the room staring back at you, uttering not-a-peep, for us to go home contemplative, asking, “What did I do WRONG?” That said, though they make many good points, I’m not convinced any of the fore-mentioned blogs gets to the heart of the matter. Here’s why…[Read more…]